Motorists are advised to choose child car seats which can be installed using the new method ISOFix for enhanced safety.
Motorists will find the ISOFix (International Organization for Standardization Fix) method much less complicated than the traditional method.
Essentially, it only requires the snap connection of the child seat to be latching onto the anchor points in the car, without the need to use the car seat belt, thus eliminating most errors encountered by motorists when fitting the child seat in the car.
In a Consumer Council test, 5 out of the 16 models of child car seats available in the market were found to be capable of using the ISOFix installation method.
All samples are approved for sale in accordance with the European safety standard and regulation.
Since not all cars are capable of installing ISOFix child seats, consumers will do well to refer to their car owner manuals or check with their agents to be certain.
Notwithstanding, using child car seats that are not ISOFix is still much safer than not using a child car seat at all.
When choosing a child car seat, the body weight of the child - and not the age - is the main criterion. The rearward-facing child car seats generally offer a higher level of safety over forward-facing car seats to children at least up to the age of 4 years, according to some European studies.
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